As we reach the halfway point of Rainbow Six Siege’s Operation Burnt Horizon, Ubisoft has released its regularly scheduled Designer Notes that lay out every big balancing change coming in the next patch. Alongside the much anticipated reworks of Rainbow Six Siege operators like Lion and Capitão is a surprise buff for Kaid and nerfs for Nomad, Blitz, and Maestro. Ubi also shared updated win rate/pick rate graphs that reflect data from Operation Wind Bastion and the first half of Burnt Horizon.
Lion
- Replaced the red scan outline with a consecutive pings
- Reduced the ability warning from 3 to 1.5 seconds
- Reduced the scanning from 4 to 2 seconds
- Reduced the ability cool-down from 27 to 15 seconds
- Increased the number of charges from 2 to 3
“The Lion rework is ready,” reads the post. As Ubi has previously stated, Lion’s rework is focused on making him less frustrating for defenders while still maintaining is role as an information operator. It’s a worthy balance decision, but it probably won’t make him more interesting to play. In the end, you’re still just pressing a button and letting the drone do the work.
Capitão
- Reducing damage per tick on fire bolts from 19 to 12
- Size of the area of effect increased
- The area takes 2 seconds to reach its maximum size
- The arrows follow a straight trajectory until 10 meters. After that, they will start to fall due to gravity.
Ubi is finally ready to introduce the rework to Capitão’s fire bolts first shown off back in February. The final version is has the same gist—each bolt has a larger AOE but deals less damage. To balance out his new gadget behavior, the bolts are now affected by gravity, dropping off after 10 meters. I’m psyched to see all the new ways players will use his area denial.
Maestro
- To reduce the survivability of Evil Eyes, its bulletproof windows will now be halfway opened when affected by EMPs or Shock Drones.
This change is coming a bit out of nowhere. I think most players were expecting a nerf to Maestro’s dominant LMG instead of his Evil Eyes. Regardless, it sounds kind of brilliant. Thatcher and Twitch now have a much better chance to shut down an Evil Eye while giving Maestro an opportunity to fight back. If an EMP rolls into the room, he can move the camera’s view away from enemy view.
Nomad
- Added an idle sound cue to activated airjabs.
- Stun grenades replace her Claymore.
After a short time in the test server, the idle sound cue for airjabs will be official for Nomad. The sound is useful for giving a hint as to where an airjab is, but it probably won’t decrease her overall impact. As for replacing her claymore, Ubi says that Nomad already has enough ways to cover a flank.
Kaid
- We have reduced the TCSG12 total ammunition to 51 (from 61).
- The AUG-A3 damage is increased to 33 (from 27).
A much needed change and welcome surprise. Despite being a risky weapon that requires good accuracy, the TCSG currently feels like the obvious pick because the AUG-A3 is one of the worst SMGs in the game. Buffing it up should make it more competitive.
Blitz
- To reduce the frustration generated by this operator, the ballistic shield flash cool-down has been increased (from 2 to 7 seconds.)
Take a shot every time Ubi begins a Blitz nerf with “to reduce the frustration of this operator.” Upping Blitz’s cooldown should make it near-impossible to chain together flashes and keep an enemy in an infinite cycle of blindness. Even still, it’s never not going to be frustrating to go blind simply because Blitz got too close.
Ying
- In order to make Ying’s Candelas more intuitive and simple, we have inverted the cooking mechanic.
“Just like frag grenades, the longer you cook them, the earlier they will explode,” Ubi said. So no more rapid firing candelas into every corner of a room? Thank the Lord. {--}7
Echo
- IQ can now detect Echo when he is using his PDA.
Uh… am I crazy, or was this already true? I swear I’ve spotted Echo’s little PDA with IQ before, but was it removed at some point? Was I actually seeing a ghost? All good questions, but at least it’s for sure coming in the next patch.
Wrap up
That’s a pretty nice balancing sweep, but there is one curious omission. In a March 20 blog post, Ubi said that Vigil would now be able to counter Lion’s motion scan while using his backpack jammer. That bit is missing from today’s Designer Notes, so it’s either on hold or left off by mistake. I reached out to Ubi on Twitter for a clarification and I’ll report back if I hear anything.
Speaking of on hold, reverse friendly fire is still going through its testing phase before release. As of today’s test server patch notes, RFF will activate not only after a full teamkill, but also after a certain amount of team damage is reached. Exciting stuff, if it comes to pass.
